To what extent were responses to death characterized by fear in medieval religious culture? This investigation will analyze responses to death in medieval religious culture. Relations with death undoubtedly varied according to social class, making it difficult to assert a generalized response to death. Death was commonplace among the peasants and so few sources document it. Reactions to death can be inferred from sermons, which had an influence on the beliefs of the lower classes. The nobility, on the other hand, provided accounts of deaths and from these sources answers can be asserted. Likewise, it is difficult to assert a general definition of death because in medieval times the concept of death was multidimensional. Death was both physical and spiritual in medieval religious culture. Additionally, medieval religious culture was diverse. This investigation will address these issues by using specific religious sources, both for the lower and upper classes, and analyzing their content to determine whether responses to death were characterized by fear. The 14th and 15th centuries were plagued by devastating events, including: The Great Famine (1315-1322), the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487), and the Black Death ( 1348-1350). Society adapted to cope with the abundance of deaths, as shown by the many primary sources commenting on death during this period. Medieval society approached death from different social and religious perspectives. For example, the Danse Macabre can be presented either as a social satire or as a commentary on religious culture. For the purposes of this essay, it is important to be selective among the abundant sources available, referring to sources with a specific purpose...... middle of article ......ars: traditional religion in England, c. 1400-c. 1580 (Yale University Press, 2005). Fletcher, A., “Unnoticed Sermons from the Festival of John Mirk, Speculum, Vol. 55, No. 3 (July 1980), 514-522. Ford, J., John Mirk's Festial: Orthodoxy, Lollardy, and the Common People in 14th-Century England (DS Brewer, 2006). Huizinga, J., The Decline of the Middle Ages (Dover Publications, 1999). James, T., Black Death: The Last Impact (BBC History, 2011). Langmuir, G., 'Review: Sin and Fear: The Emergence of a Western Guilt Culture, 13th-18th Centuries, Medieval Academy of America, Vol. 67, no. 3 (1992), 657-659. Liguori, AM, Preparation for Death or Considerations on the Eternal Maxims (St Athanasius Press, 2010). Ross, C., Edward IV (Yale University Press, 1997). Rubin, M (ed.)., Medieval Christianity in Practice (Princeton University Press, 2009).